GAA Grind examines the competing demands on the lives of young sportspeople

The pressures faced by young people involved in Gaelic games are explored by students Conor Seoige, Alex Markey and Daire Fagan in their project ‘GAA Grind – Strength, Struggle, Power and Pain’, which examines the challenge of balancing sport, education and social life for teenagers competing in GAA at multiple levels.

Conor said the aim was to examine how young players juggle competing demands.

“It’s about Gaelic games and trying to find a balance between life, social life, sport and education,” he said. “We wanted to see how young people are managing that.”

As part of their research, the students conducted surveys with schools across the country using Google Forms. Alex Markey said the methodology was broadened this year to provide a more complete picture.

“Last year, because we’re an all-boys school, we only collected data from boys,” he said. “This year, we decided to use inferential statistics, where you take smaller groups to understand the bigger picture.”

To ensure female students were included, the group surveyed a neighbouring all-girls school.

“What we found was that it’s not just teenage boys who experience this pressure – girls do too,” Alex said.

Drawing on their findings, the students developed a practical solution in the form of a digital app designed to help reduce stress and manage workloads.

Daire Fagan said the app, called Performance Pulse, builds on a website the group created last year.

“We developed it into an app that mainly tracks schedules, training and gym work,” he said. “It lets you track everything, especially if you’re involved with multiple panels like a county team, a school team and a club team.”

The app is designed to give coaches and managers an overview of a player’s commitments, helping to prevent overtraining while still allowing players to keep up with academic demands.

“The manager from each team can see what you’re doing, so they won’t overwork you,” Daire said. “It also has an academic side, where you can track homework and study, so you can stay on top of everything and not fall behind.”

The students said the project highlights the increasing demands placed on young athletes and the importance of managing physical and mental wellbeing alongside sporting ambition.